Bill Colleran; TV Producer and Director

Bill Colleran, 77, television producer and director best known for his work on “The Judy Garland Show.” Colleran began in television in 1952 as associate director of the Emmy-winning “Your Hit Parade,” a weekly show that featured recording artists performing popular songs. He went on to other musical variety shows, including specials for ABC-TV starring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds. He met and married actress Lee Remick during that period and had two children, but he and Remick later divorced. After recovering from a serious auto accident in 1960, Colleran produced and directed a musical revue with Nat King Cole and Barbara McNair and “Mary Martin at the Music Hall,” as well as segments of the “Dean Martin Show.” In 1963 Colleran took over as executive producer of “The Judy Garland Show” and helped turn the hourlong variety program into a pure concert show. Some critics said the concert format resulted in Garland’s best shows. Before working in television, Colleran was an assistant to documentary and feature film director Louis de Rochemont. He was a native of Edgerton, Wis. On Thursday of a stroke at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills.